Unsung Hero
by Purple Gal
Summary: For just that moment Alex Riders eyes reflected years of loss, pain, and grief. But he saw an end and Alex accepted what was to come." Alex completes his mission, saves his comrades but pays the ultimate price... Warning Character Death


Alex was fighting. He was always fighting now, he had nothing left. No family, no friends, not one single solitary reason for his eyes to sparkle. And they didn't. His eyes were cold, hard, and above all deadly. He was the most successful agent in MI6 history and he was only 19 years old.

Every single solitary person he had ever loved was dead. Every single dream he'd possessed was long since shattered. Any hope for normality had long since been forsaken. But then that was the life of a spy, and he'd been a spy since the age of 14.

This fight wasn't unusual really, he was fighting to save the world, it was all part of Alex's day job. The mission was as crucial as ever and yet disturbingly habitual for Alex. This plot was to poison all the world's main water sources, and the poison would be triggered in exactly 6 minutes if Alex couldn't get to the control board. He would have to somehow find a way to cancel the launch sequence, but first he'd have to find a way past the mobs of guards surrounding him.

His allys in this mission were his very own unit, and his most painful failure…k unit. After all these years, he'd never really been accepted, never really stopped being hated, never really been respected by the four men that he should have grown closest too. But they didn't want him, and Alex…well Alex didn't need anyone. He would beg no favors, and instead he would embrace the coldness. In the end he had no other options.

Their group had been discovered halfway into the enemy compound. Now they were fighting desperately, for their lives and for the lives of every other being on the face of the earth.

Even here the dissent between the group was obvious, each of k unit was pared up, guarding each other's backs. Alex fought alone.

Not that he really minded, it was what he was used to. The only reason he had back up on this mission was because do to some political turmoil, at the moment it wasn't good enough to send a teen to save the world.

So Alex fought alone. This was his specialty, the one thing he'd been undeniable good at his whole life. He was relentless, graceful, and utterly dominant. No one could stop him. And despite fighting alone he led the group and cleared the way. He alternated seamlessly between gun, knife, and hand to hand each perfectly natural, and fluidly moving him towards his goal.

The guards fell before there group and with 3 minutes left K unit and Alex reached the control room. The room, filled with guards, was suddenly turned into a battlefield. Each of the 5 Britons determined to reach the control panel set up in the center of the room.

The fight was fast and furious. Alex was shot in the shoulder with 2 minutes and 30 seconds left to go by a sniper across the room. It was the last shot he ever fired. Alex spent the rest of his shots quickly and with deadly accuracy. The enemy felt his wrath.

With 2 minutes left to go Alex received a knife to the stomach that would have taken Eagle through the heart had Alex not stepped in front.

With 2 minutes left to go Wolf reached the control station and escaped being shot in the head by a timely knife throw by Alex. Alex had thrown the knife with his left hand across the room while holding a man in a choke hold with his right hand. It should have been an impossible throw with a bullet in that shoulder. But impossible had never stopped Alex before.

With 1 minute left Wolf realized he was simply not going to be able to figure out how to stop the launch sequence. He was for once happy to see Alex as he shoved him aside and went to work at the board.

Bullets pinged all around him, the fight continued to wage around Alex. He was in mortal danger standing still like he was, but he continued to tap his fingers across the keys of the control board with a single minded determination.

With 10 seconds left to launch, Alex managed to discontinue the launch sequence. With the fight still raging Alex had set of a small charge that charred the whole circuit board 10 seconds later. In 6 minutes Alex had managed to secure the safety of the world.

But there were still enemy guards who were determined to kill these infiltrators. K Unit was battered and bruised and they were still out numbered.

As Alex moved to help K Unit a bullet caught him in the right thigh and another grazed his head.

For a couple of glorious minutes the battle waged on, K unit and Alex managed to jump out of a plate glass window and make it into a small courtyard. Alex's face was pale and blood ran down his black combat suit, but determination and strength kept him going.

Alex led the way and had already reached the low concrete wall. K unit was about 10 feet behind him.

"Dammit hurry up!" Alex called back over his shoulder.

"Damn you, we're coming Double O Nothing!!!" Wolf called out angrily, using his pet insult even in battle. Suddenly one of the guards threw a grenade out the window, and it landed in front of K unit right in between them and Alex, the wall, and safety.

K Unit stopped in a sort of frozen horror. They were to far away to get rid of it, and too close to get away from it.

Alex had also seen the grenade land, it was about 5 feet away from him, and 5 feet from K Unit.

He had a mere few seconds before the grenade exploded and killed them all. But Alex was already one step ahead of the game…he had options.

He could throw himself over the courtyard wall, and in all likelyhood the concrete protection would keep him alive. But then K Unit would still die.

Or he could try a long shot he'd only ever heard about…Alex realized he could throw the game.

K Unit all unconsciously made eye contact with Alex when the grenade dropped between them. They knew he could escape, never even considered that he wouldn't.

But then each saw his eyes, they saw what they never expected to see.

His cold piercing eyes showed emotion, grief, sorrow, despair, and finally resignation and acceptance. He went from a untouchable agent to a grief filled young man in a second…For just that moment Alex Riders eyes reflected years of loss, pain, and grief. But he saw an end to the hopeless cycle of abuse that was his life. And Alex accepted what was to come.

Then the moment was gone and Agent Rider returned. Suddenly Alex was flying threw the air towards the grenade, his eyes only on his target, filled with determination and confidence. His blonde hair fluttered in the wind, his muscles rippling under his combat suit, his body perfectly lithe and balanced, drops of his blood trailing behind him; and for a moment time stood still...

K Unit stood staring in shocked disbelief.

And then Alex landed on the grenade with a thud seemed to curl around it, and suddenly K Unit's world exploded. The grenade sent them airborne from the shockwaves, they all landed on the ground and covered their heads as fire and shrapnel fell.

Each one realizing even while they were in the air what Alex had done. By covering the grenade Alex's body had absorbed much of the explosion. Reduced the explosion so that K Unit could survive it.

Shouts of "Alex!" and "Cub!" filled the air as K unit realized his sacrifice. But when the turned to search for their unorthodox fifth member all they saw was burning ground and charred hunks of metal and flesh littering the earth. Cub, Agent Rider, Alex…was dead.

"God no…" Fox murmured started to crawl back towards the explosion.

Wolf looked at the flames in front of them and he simply buried his hands in his head, his last words to Alex would be to damn him...

It had taken seconds for Alex to save these four men, and merely seconds more for them to be consumed by guilt.

For how he died, and for how they had treated him when he lived.

Next thing K Unit knew, the Calvary had arrived, British troops were swarming over the walls and in a matter of minutes the compound was under control.

Soon Blunt and Jones arrived on the scene, to supervise the aftermath. Looking for Alex they were immediately taken to K Unit who was still sprawled near the site of the explosion.

"Where is Alex?" Mrs. Jones asked anxiously

"What happened to Agent Rider?" Blunt demanded tonelessly.

K Unit stared hopelessly at the scarred crater, and finally Wolf waved a hand at the mess and said softly.

"Agent Rider is dead."

It was final, unequivocal, and irrevocable; Agent Rider was dead. The first teen spy had died as a teen, just days before his twentieth birthday.

The truth was this death had been a process, Alex had died slowly with each loss over the years, Cub had died as each day he was rejected by his teammates, and Agent Rider had come a little closer to death with each mission. His luck winding down and his time running out.

In the end a bit of all three had lived today, and all had died. Alex Rider gave everything he had for his country and for his comrades, in his life, and in his death.

Most people would never know what Alex had given them, or what he had given up for them, but the few who knew Agent Rider would never forget him.

He had saved them all through the greatest of sacrifices, each and every day of his life he had given and lost. Eventually even Agent Rider lost to the hand of fate.

Alex was brave. Alex was a hero. Alex is dead.

May god rest his soul…

_Alex Rider_

_The greatest hero the world will never know…_

_Rest in Peace _


End file.
